John Lewis technology sales surge 29%

Sales figures from John Lewis back up the theory that consumers are splashing out on technology, with a 29% increase in sales year on year for the week ending Saturday 10 November.

According to the retailer the iPad4, iPad Mini and a new wave of toys that are integrated with apps are "flying off the shelves".

The sector's growth outstripped the department store's overall sales growth of 11.4% on the same week last year to £85m.

There were strong sales of beds, fitted carpets and made to measure curtains, though there was no mention of how its clothing offering had performed.

Last week Marks & Spencer, the market leader in clothing, revealed its like-for-like general merchandise sales for the six months to 29 September had dropped 2.5% year on year, while overall UK sales rose just 0.6%.

In John Lewis’s Christmas ad, launched on Friday, a snowman gifts gloves, a scarf and a hat to a snowwoman.

The retailer claims the ad had already been mentioned 33,000 times on Twitter by yesterday afternoon and the music track, Gabrielle Aplin’s cover of 'The Power of Love’' went into the iTunes chart at number eight within 24 hours of the ad first being aired. As of this morning the ad has 789,000 views on YouTube, with 32 times more likes than dislikes.

Craig Inglis, marketing director at John Lewis, said: "It is clear from the incredible reaction in the social media that our Christmas advert has once again struck a chord with the nation. We didn’t think it was possible for the response to be bigger than last year’s success but the volume of comments suggests that is exactly what happened."